Barrett Martin The Singing Earth Tour 11/28/23 Spaceland

 Barrett Martin is an overachiever. The Singing Earth Tour was a TED talk from the veteran drummer. Equipped with hands-free mic, video feed, and a stage full of drums, Barrett told tales of his drumming life. In the 90s, Barrett played for seminal grunge vehicle The Screaming Trees.  Coming out of Seattle alongside Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, and Soundgarden, the Trees were the least visible. While many of his flannel-clad contemporaries succumbed to drugs, alcohol, or suicide, Barrett dug in to all things percussive. The story starts post-Trees with Barrett befriending Peter Buck of REM. The heft of Buck’s popularity opened doors and presented opportunities that veered far from the Pacific Northwest. First stop was Cuba. On a State Department sponsored junket, US and British musicians convened in Havana with local musicians. Artists names were pulled out of flower pots and given 24 hours to collaborate. Barrett’s group had Peter Frampton and three Cuban jazzbos, he said their effort was great but is the property of the US government and has been filed away. Off to Bali where Barrett immersed himself in the gamelan. He tried to purchase some of the brass parts, but learned that their manufacture is viewed by Indonesians as a holistic entity, so he would have to purchase over 100 gongs at once. He located an outlet for rejects, or “orphans” and played a nice piece with them and marimba. Next was the Delta blues focusing on the Arkansas-Mississippi border. He befriended Cedell Davis, an elderly picker from the Delta. Born in the 20s, stricken with polio and wheelchair bound, Davis was a conduit to the original bluesmen. Davis told the story of meeting Crap House Bee, the infamous vixen who allegedly poisoned Robert Johnson. The video clip of Davis performing the classic Dust My Broom with grunge musicians was excellent. Off to Brazil where Barrett produced a young musician named Xando Reis. The record was poorly received upon release, but when Barrett returned a decade later, the music had exploded and he played multiple sold out shows to promote. Back in the US, Barrett went for an ethnomusicology advanced degree at UCLA. His mentor was a Native American  professor from Alaska. She dispatched Barrett and recording gear to the Amazon rain forest in Peru to record indigenous shamans. He played mbira (thumb piano) to a video backdrop of a shaman ceremony. The next adventure came courtesy of original Nirvana guitarist turned green beret. Barrett embarked on a 1000 mile sailing race from Seattle to the Northwest Territory. While they didn’t win, Barrett was able spend time with pods of whales and recorded their “songs”. In Alaska, with his mentor ,they immersed themselves in Native American music that was rich in fiddle that stemmed from British and Scottish explorers. Why limit yourself to planet earth? Barrett hooked up with Hubbell telescope scientists to soundtrack clips of far off galaxies. The performance was excellent, imagine Anthony Bourdain with drums. The series looks to be broadcast on Vevo and promises to be a fascinating musical travelogue.

Joseph Allred Neverending Books 11/12/23

 Yes, two Sundays in a row at the ratty bookstore. Full disclosure, this show was the one on the calendar. Allred is a guitarist of the American Primitive variety. Think John Fahey or  Michael Hedges, dexterous, acoustic, largely wordless concise songs. Allred was portly with a W.B. Mason mustache, looked more like barbershop quartet material. He played acoustic 12 string guitar. The sound is beautiful, but I feel for the artist because they seem to spend half their time tuning. First song was about groundhogs that lived under his porch, another was named after a river in North Carolina. Another close view of an amazing instrument, Allred picked with his thumb but used all other fingers to pluck, it sounded like multiple guitars on stage. He had a folksy drawl, but I think is located near Boston. It is amazing how this instrument can shapeshift genres. At times there were Carnatic microtones, like Indian ragas, others leaned toward Arabic scales. The final lengthy tune was informed by work Allred had done with Syrian, Yemeni, and Palestinian pickers. He teared up when trying to talk about the current state of affairs in Gaza. Joseph may have looked and sounded like a country bumpkin, but it was obvious he was a reader and cultural student of music. Always happy to support an outsider playing this underrated style of music.

Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour Waterbury Palace 11/11/23

 First time at this opulent venue to view what may be the end of the “Neverending tour”. Waterbury is known for jittery neon signage that beckons (warns?) of sketchy wings and gyros, so I was delighted to get a seat for this sold out performance. The theater has a beautiful old school lobby, chandeliers, and an ornate ceiling that transports the fan to anywhere but Waterbury. I rarely see shows listed for this venue and find it hard to believe that third string productions of Annie can keep the lights on. What do you do if you are an 82 year old folk singer with thousands of song writing credits, years of social activism, and a Nobel prize? Pen a new album and take it on the road. Dylan comes out promptly at 8pm and rolls through 90 minutes of music that leaned on the recent Rough and Rowdy Ways record. The setlist went like this: Watching the River Flow, Most Likely You Go Your Way, I Contain Multitudes, False Prophet, When I Paint My Masterpiece, Black Rider, My Own Version Of You, I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight, Crossing The Rubicon, To Be Alone With You, Key West, Gotta Serve Somebody, That Old Black Magic, Mother of Muses, Goodbye Jimmy Reed, and closed with an excellent version of Every Grain of Sand. Dylan came out and played piano for the entire show, the days of guitar and harmonica are over, but the piano allowed him to drive the proceeding from center stage. The band was bass, guitar, drums, keys, with some members taking on other instruments for effect. I have seen Bob many times over the years, with the Dead at Foxborough, twice at Lake Compounce ( poured both times), with Paul Simon at The Meadows, with Joni Mitchell at MSG, at a new Gampel Pavillion at UConn, with the Jerry Garcia Band at the end of the New Haven Colliseum era, and at The House of Blues in Vegas. I even know someone who was at the 5 hour marathon Toads Place show, which counts.Dylan shows and records have been a constant in my musical journey and am a proud and continual fanboy. We all know Dylan detractors, “ I can’t understand him”, “ you’re never sure what kind of show you’ll get”. To this I say, listen harder, familiarize yourself with the catalog, and realize that daily performances for over 60 years is a special thing.

FIM 11/5/23 Neverending Books

 I’ll skip my regular rant about this ratty venue. Sure the discarded couch I sat on sunk to about 1968 when my ass hit it, but the bathroom had a monstrous cast iron steam heat source which made one feel like they were peeing in a sauna.  I’m thinking FIM stands for Free Improv Music, but the crew wasn’t sure and while they have a website, it hasn’t been updated in months. Thankfully this dungeons and dragons club for music theory nerds focused on playing not infrastructure. First up was local treasure accordionist Adam Matlock. Adam is a local scenester whose alter ego is Dr. Caterwaul and has been positively reviewed here. I’ve always thought the accordion was a bagpipe worth listening to. This one had a pearlescent red and white body, gold and red accented bellows, and a pearled button pad. The button pad is odd, it looks like a yoga sock with about 60 little rubber buttons. Chatting with Matlock at the set break, I was embarrassed to ask him button questions. He did lament the tiny Italian company that made his was less than efficient for parts. This instrument has keys, bellows, buttons, and when applied to avant garde stylings, all can move in opposite directions. The curve to the bellows is critical to the bent sound, and Matlock is a master. Next crew was a quartet, Caleb Duvall on standup bass ( FIM CEO I guess), drummer, guitarist (another FIM exec), and guest sax wailer Stephen Gauci. Just read a positive review of Gauci’s new release Live At Scholes Street Studio ( with Matthew Shipp, William Parker, and Francisco Mela, all anchors of the scene). Duvall played one sequence with a bow stabbing motion to strange effect, another had him slapping so hard it felt the whole room was being twanged with a large gage rubber band. The drummer was a piler. The drum kit is a series of flat surfaces, why not pile shit on them, Cymbals, upside down cymbals, cowbells, bean bags, all made different sounds when struck. The guitarist was low key, staring off into space while using various chrome plated widgets to scrape and pluck. Gauci was fascinating to watch, coke bottle glasses and buttoned up brown Brooklyn attire, he moved like a used car lot balloon man, even jumping at the the full of air apex, as if to gather more air to blow through his horn. His sound was Ayler-esque, he needed frequent rests to prepare for the next squall. The final crew was a trio. A young woman on bassoon, guy on standup bass, and a decidedly Nordic looking beanpole on electronics. The bassoon has a great tone, but this gal used it percussively sounding like a cartoon arrow flight at one point. The bass in this group was understated but kept the others focused. Electronics means a laptop, some boxes, some wires, and this guy had what looked like dueling vintage Apple click wheels. The electronics were mostly used for metallic whooshy shading, but one part had him moving to the front sounding like R2D2 being water boarded. There were no introductions, these people all knew each other and were playing with and for their peers. They all looked ecstatically tranced while playing. Hmm, ecstatically tranced, pizza from nearby Modern Apizza, playing music with and for your friends…. Sounds like High School.

John Raymond and S. Carey “Shadowlands” 11/3/23 Firehouse 12

 Luckily bought an advance ticket for the first set of this sold out performance at the Firehouse. The quintet consisted of Raymond on trumpet, flugelhorn, S. ( Sean) Carey on drums and vocals, Romain Collin on piano, Katie Ernst on standup bass, and Dave Devine on guitar. Raymond and Carey are old friends from Wisconsin. Their musical paths diverged with Raymond a Grammy nominated jazzbo and Carey assuming the role of right hand man for fellow Wisconsin indie hermit JustinVernon aka Bon Iver. Bon Iver has secured a place in indie rock royalty with a string of popular releases and high profile collaborations. Raymond and Carey acknowledge that the Firehouse is a new setting for them, but were gushing at the chance to exhibit their music to a different audience. The music had a meditative movie score feel. With trumpet and creamy toned flugel out front and Carey’s  soprano singing, Shadowlands leaned more toward Sufjan Stevens than Chuck Mangione. The backing crew were solid musicians with Collin taking a nice solo and Ernst taking lead vocal duties on Some Other Time, a Leonard Bernstein composition. The modern classical lane is a thing, like the Dessner brothers from The National, this crew occupies the space between popular music and modern composition. Raymond did a tricky trumpet looping sequence through a Prophet 6 which was excellent. I’m always amazed at drumming singers, Carey’s spare shading was not strenuous and seemed not to affect his singing. The Firehouse faithful, to their credit, seemed to embrace this decidedly non-skronky, downright melodic, improv-less offering. For those who complain of the inaccessible sets offered at this venue, would have been wise to get a seat for this enjoyable set.